Office, (The) Divine (Lat. offidum divinum), is the name popularly given since the 9th century to the collection of services enjoined for the canonical hours (q. v.). It is called by St. Basil and the Greek Church the Canon; by SS. Jerome and Benedict God's Work; the Cursus or Course in the Roman rites ; the Collecta by St. Pachoraius; Synaxis by Cassian; and Missa, in 506, by the Council of Agde. These services are pre- scribed to be read each day by bishops, priests, dea- cons, and subdeacons in the Roman Catholic Church. Under the head Brp;viary may be found a general de- scription of the contents and the arrangement of that great service-book. The special portions assigned for any particidar day constitute what is called the divine office for that day; and each person who is bound in
virtue of his order to recite the Breviary is obliged, un- der pain of sin, to read, not merely with the eye, but with distinct, although it may be silent articulation, each and all these portions. The adjustment of the portions of the office of each day, the combination of the "ordinary" portions which are read everj' day in common with the parts '■ proper" for each particular day, is a matter of considerable difficulty, and is regu- lated by a complicated system of rubrics (q. v.). Treat- ises De Divinis Officiis (on divine offices) appeared in the Middle Ages from the pens of some able writers of those times, particularly Amalarius, John Scotus, Wali- frid Strabo, and others. The term " Divine Office" is also applied to the Introit (q. v.) and Vesjjers (q. v.). (J. H. W.) Office, Holy, Congregation of the. In the ar- ticle Inquisition (q. v.) it has been explained that that tribunal is sometimes called by the name Holy Office. This title, however, properly belongs to the " Congre- gation" at Rome, to which the direction of the Roman tribunal of the Inquisition is subject. This Congrega- tion was established b)' Paul III in 1542, and its organ- ization was completed by Sixtus V. It consists of twelve cardinals, a commissar}', a number of "theolo- gians" and canonists who are styled " consulters," and of another class of officials styled " qualifiers," whose duty it is to report on each case for the information of the cardinals. In the most solemn sessions of the Holy Office the pope himself presides in person. The action of the Holy Office, in addition to the questions of her- esy and crimes against faith, also extends to ecclesias- tical offences, especially in connection with the admin- istration of the sacraments. — Chambers, Cyclop, s. v.
Office, Ministerial, i. e. of the Christian Minis- try. The ministers whom Christ and his apostles, and their successors, appointed, are completely distinct from priests, such as those of the Jews and of the pagans, in office, as well as in name. Among the former it was not so much the family of Aaron as the whole tribe of Levi that seems to have been set apart for the purpose of teaching the law; and, indeed, even persons of any tribe might teach publicly in the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, whereas an intrusion into the priest's of- fice would have been vehemently resented. As for pa- gan priests, their business was rather to conceal than to explain the mysteries of their religion; to keep the people in darkness, rather than to enlighten them. Of the office of Christian ministers, on the contrary, one principal part is that it belongs to them (not exclu- sively indeed, but principallj' and especially) to give religious instruction and admonition ; while another, and that a peculiar and exclusive office, is to administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper. But this administration does not at all assimilate the Chris- tian priesthood to the pagan or Jewish ; the former of those rites being an admission into the visible Church, and therefore very suitably received at the hands of those whose especial business it is to instruct and exam- ine candidates for baptism; while the latter is not, as the Romanists pretend, a fresh sacrifice, but manifestly in celebration of the one already made, and dependent for its efficacy on the personal holiness of the communi- cant, not of the minister; he, so far from offering any sacrifice himself, refers them to the sacrifice already made by another, the rite of the Lord's Supper seeming plainly to have been ordained for the express purpose (among others) of fixing our minds on the great and single oblation of himself, made by the only high-priest once for all— that great high-priest who has no earthly successor.— Eden, Ch. Diet. s. v. See Functionaries ; Ministry ; Priesthood.
Officer. Most, if not all, of the Hebrew and Greek words so rendered in the A.Y. are either of an indefinite character, or are synonymous terms for functionaries known under other and more specific names. They are the following: 1. 0'i"i&, saris (Gen. xxxvii, 36; xxxix, 1 ; xl, 2). The word usually designates a eu-
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nuch; and probably it ought alwaj'S to be so under- stood. It is no valid objection to this that I'otiphar had a wife, for eunuchs are not all strangers to the sexual passion, and sometimes live' in matrimony (Ecclus. xx, 4; Mishna, Jebamoth, viii, 4; Juvenal, iSat. i, 22; Ter- ence, Eu?i. iv, 3, 23; Chardin, Voijaijes, iii, 397). See Eunuch. 2. "Iu3'13, slioter, part, of "iI3'IJ, to cut, to grave, properly a icriter (Sept. ypaj.ij.inTivi;), and. from the use of writing in judicial administration, a mar/is- iriite or prafect. It is used of the oIKcers who were set over the Israelites in Egypt (Exod. v, 6-19) ; of the officers who were appointeil along with the elders to administer the public affairs of the Israelites (Numb. xi, 16; Deut. XX, 5, 8, 9; xxix, 10; xxxi, 28; Josh, i, 10; iii, 2; viii, 33, etc.); of magistrates in the cities and towns of Palestine (Deut. xvi, 18; Sept. ypafifia- TOiKTayMyeig ; I Chron. xxiii, 4; xxvi, 29; 2 Chron. xix, 11; Prov. vi, 7 [A. V. "overseer"], etc.); and ap- parently also of a military chief (2 Chron. xxvi, 11 [A. V. "ruler"]). See below. 3. 3S3, HiV«)'sa&, part. Niph. of 31^3, to set or place, a prwject or director (1 Kings iv,5,7'; v,30[A.V.16]; ix,23,etc.); and :i''23, He/sf6(l Kings iv, 7, 19). See Governor. 4. i'l, rab (Esth. i, 8; Dan. i, 3 [A. V. " master"]) ; Sept. oiKovofioQ. See Eab. 5. T^pSj/Joijc/, from "IpS, to visit, Hiph. to set over, an overseer or magistrate (Gen. xli, 34, Sept. TOTrdpxif: ; Judg. ix, 28, Sept. tTriaKOTTOc ; Esth. ii, 3, Sept. kw- fidpxnQ ; 2 C h r o n. 5